Sunday, February 6, 2011

What Could Hudson Do With $10 Million?

In 2008, the Hudson Correctional Facility was on the list of state prisons to be closed, but, because of local and regional protest, it dodged the bullet. Now, three years later, Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing to close as many as ten state prisons in a long-term effort to balance the state budget. To compensate communities for the loss of a prison, he is also proposing that each community losing a correctional facility receive a $10 million economic transformation program grant. It's not clear which prisons may be targeted this time around. The story is on North Country Public Radio News.

5 comments:

Carole, do you expect the City of Hudson and Columbia County to let the prison close in exchange for $10 million?

If there are 300 prisoners in the Hudson prison, and the annual cost to taxpayers per New York State inmate is $55,670 (source: National Institute of Corrections), then the prison represents c. $17 million per year of revenue. So, I think a $10 million grant will still be seen as an immediate loss of $7 million.

(Personally I think it's insane to keep all these prisons going; and I think that in the long run both the City and the County would be better off without the prison economy. But my point is that I do not think that is how either the Board of Supervisors or the City of Hudson will view an effort to close the prison. Look how hard they fought Gov. Spitzer to keep it open.)

It's way premature to ask that question. Cuomo isn't going to identify the prisons he thinks should be closed. Instead he's going to appoint a commission to make those decisions, so we're a long way from even knowing if the Hudson Correctional Facility is on the list.

I, of course, think Hudson should get all the money, and Hudson should decide on a reuse of the prison buildings that would bring a genuine and beneficial economic transformation. The rest of the county can benefit from that to the extent that they now benefit from there being a prison here in Hudson.

Jock, presumably some portion of that $55,670-per-inmate figure does not accrue directly or even indirectly to the host municipality... Maybe even a majority of it.

The figure presumably includes Statewide overhead costs; and some of it obviously gets distributed to vendors and employees who do not live in Hudson.

Moreover, any new project which occupied the location would presumably accrue some similar or offsetting benefits to the host community (employment, taxes), so one needs to look at the full picture -- including both opportunity costs and externalities.

Either way, while there may be an argument to be made along the lines you've proposed, one suspects the figures need some adjustment -- maybe a lot of adjustment -- when weighing the local angle.

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About The Gossips of Rivertown

This blog takes its name from the 1850 novel by Hudson author Alice B. Neal. The original Gossips of Rivertown cast a gimlet eye on Hudson society in the mid-19th century. More than a century and a half later, the new Gossips carries on the spirit of the original, but in a different genre and with a different focus.